KASHMIR TO CHINA 219 



1 2th we took the North German Lloyd S. S. Seyd- 

 litz eastward. On the iyth we threaded our way 

 through a maze of small wooded islands, where the 

 dark-ribbed sails of the junks told as nothing else 

 could that we were now in Chinese waters, and so 

 entered the beautiful port of Hongkong. Barring 

 that of Sydney, and possibly of Rio de Janeiro, the 

 harbor of Hongkong in point of beauty is unrivalled. 

 One enters what from the town appears to be a lake 

 of the deepest blue, for from within the outlets are 

 invisible, surrounded closely by imposing hills, 

 under the highest of which lies the city. There is 

 none of the congested, smoky appearance of the 

 usual commercial centre, for there are few docks, 

 and the vessels lie at anchor in the harbor, where the 

 breeze continually clears the smoke away. There 

 being no wharves to obscure the view, one gets from 

 the Bund, or sea-wall, a lively picture, with the big 

 liners and merchantmen anchored in the roadstead, 

 and hundreds of little steam-launches, for the great 

 number of which Hongkong is noted, racing to and 

 fro among the shipping. Here on the Bund is the 

 Hongkong Club, on whose cool veranda one can 

 recline in comfortable cane-chairs, and watch the 

 whole great scene of life and color. This club, by the 

 way, boasts fifteen hundred members, and is second 

 to none in the East. 



